Action stations! Steve McClaren is poised to put Boro on special alert to finish the biggest job of the season next week.

The 1-0 win at Highbury in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-finals has moved Boro to within 90 minutes of the final at Cardiff.

There's still a lot of hard work to get through, but McClaren is determined that Boro do everything in their power to grasp the nettle on Wednesday.

He said: "We've gone to Highbury to try to win the first leg and we've done that.

"We've got one goal and we could have got more, but we're delighted with one.

"However we know the job is only half done.

"There's no point in playing as well as we did in the first leg and then letting things slip next week.

"So we have to make sure we perform like that in the second leg as well, and that will give us a great chance of winning it."

Boro have enjoyed a superb run so far in the competition. They always seem to be able to pull something out of the bag when it matters.

Tuesday's game was no different, with every player doing his bit - and Juninho playing out of his skin.

Boro were also given magnificent backing from the 2,800 travelling fans, and it would be good to reach Cardiff if only for the sake of the Riverside faithful.

McClaren said: "We have had some great games in this competition, with great emotion.

"It is as much for the fans as anybody else and you saw that with the away supporters.

"Hopefully you will see that again next week with the home support. It is important for the fans, the town and the club. It is a bonus away from the Premier League.

"For teams like ourselves, it is a route into Europe and other teams have taken it before and done well."

McClaren played virtually a full strength line-up at Highbury and it paid dividends.

The main man who was missing was skipper Gareth Southgate, who is battling to recover from a back niggle.

The Boro boss is hopeful that both Southgate and Colin Cooper will be back from injury for the return leg, with Coops fighting to shake off a hamstring strain.

But Southgate for Chris Riggott is the only potential change that McClaren will be looking to make, because that means he will have arguably his best team in action.

He may need it, too, if Gunners boss Arsene Wenger decides to bring back the heavy mob.

The likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira - all of whom helped to destroy Boro in the league game at Highbury - would make a big difference if they were to play at the Riverside.

Wenger may stick to his guns and rest Henry and Pires again, though Vieira is expected to play because he is suspended for Arsenal's following league game against Manchester City, and therefore Wenger can afford to risk him.

Wenger will leave his final selection decision until early next week, once he has had the opportunity to weigh up all the pros and cons.

He must make at least one change up front, because Kanu has flown out to link up with the Nigeria squad for the African Cup of Nations.

Wenger insisted: "Kanu has gone off for the international competition so we are a bit short. We will have to see what happens next week.

"We were disappointed to lose the first leg but I have no regrets. I am happy with what I have done.

"I can not play my strongest 11 in every game.

"It is just unfortunate that we have Dennis Bergkamp, Sylvain Wiltord and Jeremie Aliadiere out injured.

"But we didn't gamble in the first leg because we played a team with every chance of winning the game.

"We will just try to make Middlesbrough regret that they didn't kill the game off as it is far from over yet."

Boro had three or four good chances to add to Juninho's 53rd minute strike.

The Brazilian was very unlucky to see his 16th minute shot rebound off the foot of the left hand post into goalkeeper Graham Stack's arms.

Then Stack made a fine diving save to keep out a curling effort from Juninho shortly after the restart.

However Juninho broke through with the golden goal soon afterwards and Boro went on to absorb spells of pressure to hold on to their advantage.

Clearly they have every chance of winning the match and reaching the final if they play at the Riverside in the same way they did at Highbury.

McClaren may be able to field his strongest defence and his strongest midfield - whatever that might be.

The manager had to deal with the impending selection problem on the left flank and opted to play Bolo Zenden ahead of Stewart Downing.

Unfortunately Zenden did not have the best of games as an attacking force, and so the fans will be calling for Downing's return on Wednesday.

Zenden was involved when Arsenal were pressing but did not get in any telling crosses.

Mendieta also tired towards the end of Tuesday's game, as did Massimo Maccarone, but neither player has had much football lately.

Mendieta should be a lot stronger on Wednesday, while Maccarone again put himself about a bit at Highbury - and Boro fans need to see a bit more of it.

It's not the ideal situation to see Boro playing with one striker up front, and Juninho just behind, but the duo were pretty effective at Highbury.